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| Josephine Schrott from Ecotrust Canada provided for a thorough overview of their report for council |
As part of her overview for council, Ms. Schrott touched on many of the themes from the report, focusing on the cost benefits for residents towards home improvements and how they can improve their energy efficiency in their homes and reduce emissions in the community.
Much of that focus was put towards the savings possible from the use of heat pumps and improved insulation as part of retrofits to local homes.
The presentation also included an update towards their work on a fully funded upgrade support program which would be run by EcoTrust, in collaboration with city staff which would assist to get the word out towards it.
Upon the completion of her overview, Council members had a few comments towards the report.
Councillor Nick Adey led off the council participation, noting of the opportunity that EcoTrust offers towards consultation for the public when ti comes to what would be their best fit to get their energy costs down.
Councillor Cunningham had questions related to the impact on the call for electricity that would come should a large volume of residents switch over to the electricity model that is proposed, noting how with the city's industrial base also putting a demand on electricity, there may be an unforeseen environmental impact on the province.
"From the other side of it, if we've got 5,000 residents in town here, if half of them were to switch over to heat pumps ... where would all this electricity come from?
I was at a convention a little while and I actually asked an Engineer from BC Hydro about the grid and what it can support and can't support, and they readily admit we would need another Two Site C dams just to keep up with what is projected.
We're a small rural town that is already encouraging industrialization which is a lot more electricity and so this is all fine and dandy but the environmental impacts of two more Site C dams, when one Site C dam is so controversial ... I'm looking farther down the road I like this idea I would like to put a heat pump in my house an save some money.
But the environmental impact on the rest of the province and the rest of the country to upgrade to these things, we don't seem to be looking at the whole picture ... We're always pushing this new technology without really looking past at the impact its going to have ...
I just wonder where these thought processes go when we're just looking at just Prince Rupert and we don't have the electrical grid right now to support this. And you know we've had industry come here and look at it and say we need more electricity and things like this, it just boggles my mind that we keep looking at the small picture not the big picture. "
Ms. Schrott countered some of those concerns by noting of the significant impact of natural gas on the environment and how that has to be weighed, a swell as to how some of the savings that would balance out some of that energy consumption and how BC Hydro continues to work on the supply side of delivery of electrical service.
On the theme of the impact on the electrical grid, it was somewhat surprising that no one from City Council made mention of the City's recent investment in the Woodworth Dam, a project that was completed earlier this year at some additional cost so as to have the capacity to generate electricity if the city wishes.
Though at the moment there is nowhere for any of that electricity to be directed, if it were to be generated.
Councillor Forrester noted of the conflicting information available related to heat pumps and how some contractors suggest that they don't work well in the climate conditions found in Prince Rupert, she followed up by asking where residents could find the best source of information towards that.
"I found a lot of conflicting information when I researched it. I came into reading the report with an assumption and I don't know where I got it that heat pumps don't work well in Prince Rupert as a climate and it might be because I heard that in Terrace, that our temperature doesn't have a lot of highs and lows to make it economically viable and this report said something different ...
Where would I find the most accurate information, because a lot of this does suppose that people would move if they went with this to an electric heat pump, but when I talk to contractors when I talk to different people they say that won't work here.
So I'm just wondering where I can find the best source of information for that "
Ms. Schrott observed of the improved quality of the current options from Heat Pumps, noting of some of their installations on the Central Coast and Vancouver Island where the product works well, she also stressed that if you have the right heat pump for the conditions for the area and it's properly installed they would be a good solution.
Councillor Randhawa asked towards any future plans towards sharing information towards their energy savings programs.
Towards that, the EcoTrust analyst suggested their blog as a good resource and plans for future information rollouts to come, as well as the work that they have done with the city's director of Communications Veronika Stewart which will see some of that information relayed through the City of Prince Rupert information streams.
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| The most recent report of Community Enhancement Grants from the City of Prince Rupert |
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